Joint for devices for cleaning furnace flues



Jan. 24, 1928.

W. J. MOLINE JOINT FOR DEVICES FOR CLEANING FURNACE FLUES Filed Jan. 11- 1926 'INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Jan. 24, 19.28.

ren't OFFECE;

WESLEY J. MOIiINE, or noon ISLAND, ILLINOIS.

JOINT FOR DEVICES FOR CLEANING FURNACE FLUES.

Application filed January 11, 1926. Serial No. 80,628.

My invention relates to furnace flue cleaners and is lIlliBHClGCl to be of particular value to the householder by making it a comparatively easy matter to remove the soot from the curved section of the lines.

In present day furnaces used in the residence heating plant the flue cleaning port is placed at some convenient point around the furnace casing, most generally diametrically across the casing from the smoke outlet. The connection between the internal flue system of the furnace and the combustion chamber is also located diametrically opposite the smoke outlet. Due to this construction all smoke and products of combustion must pass through the internal flue system to reach the smoke outlet and the uptake of the heating plant. Since the ordinary furnace is constructed with a comparatively small combustion chamber and because the average householder is not educated in the principles of combustion, incomplete combustion of the fuel is the general result and much soot is formed in the flue system. Unless this soot deposit is periodically removed from the furnace the natural draftof the uptake is: impaired and the furnace operates very inefficiently. Soot fires are a frequent result of allowing the furnace fines to clog with soot and not infrequently residence fires result from this cause.

It is a ditlicult matter to clean the curved flues of the ordinary furnace and numerous devices have been utilized for this purpose.

They have, without exception, the common fault that, being made of comparatively stiii' material throughout and withoutflexibility, only a small section of the flue directly in front of the cleanout door can be serviced.

The principal objects of the present invention are as follows.

First: To provide a device of rugged construction capable of withstanding considerable usage without impairing its utility.

Second: To provide a device for use in cleaning the flues of a furnace such device being provided with a flexible handle permitting its use in curved passages.

Third: To provide a soot rake having a handle flexible in one plane and rigid in the other thereby making it possible to insert the rake in tortuous passages for the purpose of cleaning same.

Fourth: To provide a soot rake having a small hoe attached to a flexible handle for the purpose of facilitating the removal of sootfrom the tortuous passage of the furnace.

With. these objects in view my invention consists in the novel features and advantages of construction and arrangement of parts as will be more fully understood from the following specifications, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of my invention inclined to the long axis of the handle disclosing the handle elements arranged in an angular position to each other.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of one of the ele ments of the handle.

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the element shown in Fig. 2.

It is intended that a practical embodiment of my invention be disclosed in the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification in which similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

Referring to Fig. 1 the blade 1, is rigidly attached to the handle section 2 by the rivet 8. The handle is made up of a multiple of sections 41, all of which are duplicates. One of these sections is shown on an enlarged scale in Figures 2 and 3 as having elongated slots 5 at each. end and a shouldered bolt 6 spaced a short distance from the slot 5. The bolt 6 is provided with a nut 7 on the under side of the bar l. The terminal section of the handle is provided with the elongated slot and shouldered bolt at one end and a circular hole 8 in the other end,

this hole 8 serving to support the device from some convenient nail or other support when not in use.

The handle sections are bolted together as shown in Fig. 1 with the bolt 6 passing through the slot 5 of the overlying section. This construction provides two bolts 6 through the end of each connecting bar and each bolt is secured rigidly in one bar and is intended to work freely in the elongated slot of the adjacent bar. The device is thus easily manipulated by grasping the terminal section of same, inserting the blade through the cleaning port of the furnace casing and drawing forth the soot on the outward stroke.

The flexibility of the handle in the horizontal plane permits the device to near the ends of said members and a shouldered pin secured in said members adjzment to said apertures, the elongated al'mrture of one member receiflng; the shouldered pin of the adjacent member to permit limited angular movei'nent between the memliiers such movementheing in a plane parallel to the flat surfaces of said members.

In testimony whereof, I hereunto allix my signature.

\VESLEY J. IAIOLINE. 

